Doug, Several members of this listserv has online photo albums and those can be a big help with identifying your moths, especially if you can find someone in your neck of the woods. Hopefully some of the members will read this and will post links to their sites. If you're referring to the one you had identified as 6386, I agree it's not Digrammia ocellinata and may be Macaria bicolorata. I made a comment on your 9946 Epiglaea decliva photo on Picasa so be sure to look at that one. I've been using size to separate Eulithis diversilineata from Eulithis gracilineata because they look virtually identical but that may not be a surefire way to ID them....the jury is still out on that. Last year I spent way to much time identifying moths (746 species in 2011) but because I did that, it's been a lot easier this year but it will never be easy. There are just too many species to deal with and many of those can be extremely variable and many can't be identified at all without a specimen to examine or dissect. It's 61 right now and the low is forecast to be 53 so there should be decent activity considering the time of year. I had a nice 7033 Nemoria lixaria, Red-bordered Emerald last night in its cool weather garb (photo attached). Compare it to the photos on MPG and you'll see what I mean. Ken Childs Henderson, TN Chester County http://tinyurl.com/FinishFlagFarmsMoths http://www.finishflagfarms.com ________________________________ From: Doug Allen <dougk4ly@xxxxxxxxx> To: ncsc-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 3:45 PM Subject: [ncsc-moths] Re: 21 species for Dec- need help with unidentified Ken, I'm exploring your Moths of Finish Flag Farms, and it's giving me another moth database that I'm finding it helpful. Great photography! First, you're geographically close enough that it probably shows a much higher per centage of the moths that occur here compared to MPG. Also I've already found a couple of your photographs that are more helpful than MPG and BG. One example. I think my "wings up" Sallow was misidentified. There were no pictures of it in that position on MPG and BG, but your image 4642 closely corresponds to my picture, and I have corrected the identification. Do you agree? I also have a photograph that very closely resembles your wings up Lesser Grapevine Looper Moth which I hadn't previously identified since MPG and BG don't show the wings up position and also suggests the difficulty of separating them. The numbers of your unidentified moths is humbling. It's probably taken me an average of an hour to identify (I hope) each of my some 200 moth species from thousands of photographs of I don't know how many species. As I become more familiar with the families, the time goes down just a little, but all those unidentified species I have... Once upon a time I would visit libraries thinking I really needed to read all those books, and I was emotionally overwhelmed by the task. That's how I sometimes feel now! Last night it stayed above 50 degrees until I went to bed. About 7 species of moths visited the black lights including at least eight 6258– Alsophila pometaria– Fall Cankerworm Moths at one time. I think I had two new species for December, numbers 21 and 22, if I can identify them. Doug Allen Windmill Hill SC On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 10:00 AM, Doug Allen <dougk4ly@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: Ken, > Interesting on the Vetch Looper. And I checked out 2281 and agree. Thank >you. I'll be sending the Dec batch for inclusion in the SC Moth database at >the end of the month. >Still looking for that 21st species! > >I've enjoyed looking at your unidentified Gelechioidea and have comments and a >couple of my pictures that relate to one of your unidentified species, but >I'll defer that for another email. Out high today is supposed to be 60 and >low tonight about 48 so I'll put out the black lights. > > I just sent John Snyder the following batch of October moth species. I'm >pretty confident with all, but maybe 1 or 2. I'm working on a 3rd October >batch. Here's the OCT#2- > >https://picasaweb.google.com/114446304105523815248/OCTOBER2?authkey=Gv1sRgCKjdmYTlmryTQw# > >I guess we get pretty much the same moths where you are and here. I'm close >to extensive woods/forest, an organic farm, and fields. It seems that most of >the posters on the ncsc-moths are in Tennessee! I'll eventually try and get >on the Facebook webpage, but I have too many irons in the fire right now. > >When I was young, I learned my eastern birds and bird songs fairly quickly. >Now I'm pretty deaf and don't hear many of the bird songs and am a slow >learner with moths! > >Doug Allen Windmill Hill, SC > > >On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 11:22 AM, kjchilds <kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >Doug, >> >> >>There's a dark form of Vetch Looper that shows here early and late in the >>season that doesn't seem to be very well documented. When I first started >>mothing, it fooled me too. It's usually the most common form I see until mid >>March when lighter ones start showing up. Then in late September I'll start >>seeing them again. >> >> >>The main reason I don't think your moth is 1422 Homaledra sabalella is the >>placement of the spots in relation to the centerline. On Homaledra sabalella, >>the top spot is closer to the center than the lower spot. It's reversed on >>your moth. I can't say for sure what it is but 2281 Dichomeris ligulella, >>Palmerworm Moth looks like a possibility and is a common moth. Maybe someone >>else will be better able to help with this one. >> >> >>Not being able to ID the members of Gelechioidea you see is a common enough >>problem. Most of us that have been doing this for awhile have folders full of >>unidentified Gelechioids. Many species aren't pictured on MPG and new species >>are being described all the time. I still have more to add but here's my >>album of unidentifieds. >> >> >>https://picasaweb.google.com/107941137732251962394/UnidentifiedGelechioidea?authuser=0&feat=directlink >> >>Ken Childs >>Henderson, TN >>Chester County >> >>http://tinyurl.com/FinishFlagFarmsMoths >>http://www.finishflagfarms.com >> >> >> >> >>________________________________ >> From: Doug Allen <dougk4ly@xxxxxxxxx> >>To: ncsc-moths@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >>Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 9:21 AM >>Subject: [ncsc-moths] Re: 21 species for Dec- need help with unidentified >> >> >> >>Thanks Ken, >> The Vetch Looper was a real learning experience. I glanced at it several >>times in MPG and BG trying to find some close relative with that gray color, >>but none of the pictures were even close. Of course, now when I look at the >>specific field marks, they're all there. >> >>Have you looked at the one labeled 1422. There is only one Palmetto tree >>within a mile of here! I couldn't find anything else that resembled my >>picture. >> >>The Wedgling mistake was a dumb one. It's a mirror image of the picture >>correctly identified above it. Wedgling has been the most common moth seen >>this month. I was trying too hard for that 21st species of the month to pass >>Richmond County's 20 species for the month of December. The games people >>play! I do have a couple of unsatisfactory pictures of a 21st and 22nd >>species that I'll investigate. >> >>Doug Allen Windmill Hill, 8 miles south of the NC border and 12 miles from >>the SC mountains >> >> >> >>On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 9:51 PM, kjchilds <kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> >>> >> >> >> >
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